Gear Genealogy: How to Date Your Guitar

The sheer amount of Fender instrument-dating information is far too voluminous to be presented here in a single column. The good news is that there is an entire section of the Fender site devoted to the topic.

This is the “Product Dating” section of the “Support” page, and it contains a wealth of useful information, including these product dating links:

• Dating instruments made in the United States

• Dating instruments made in Mexico

• Dating instruments made in Japan

• Dating instruments made in Korea

• Dating instruments made in Indonesia

• Dating amplifiers

• Dating acoustic guitars

• Dating instruments with odd serial numbers

• Dating old banjos

Throughout its long history, Fender has adopted various serial numbering systems that can prove helpful in establishing fairly reliable ages for its electric guitars and basses. There are, of course, serial numbering exceptions and anomalies in each era of Fender history, but the instrument and amp dating information found at Fender.com's support section is a useful starting point. The first three links above contain an extensive amount of information dealing with electric instruments going back as far as 1950.

Dating Fender amplifiers with pinpoint accuracy, on the other hand—especially older ones—presents a far more challenging prospect, as Fender never kept amp serial number records before 1994. Nonetheless, the link above dealing with amp dating contains several reference tables and outside reference suggestions useful for determining amp age as closely as possible, despite the lack of detailed records before the mid-1990s.

Dating Fender acoustic guitars presents its own distinct challenges, as serial numbers were never archived. But the model name and construction guidelines suggested in the acoustics link above go back as far as 1965, which isn’t too long after Fender acoustic guitars were first introduced in the summer of 1963.

Generally speaking, however, the majority of product dating inquiries deal with Fender electric guitars and basses, and the support pages of the Fender website contains a great deal of useful information.